President Jerzy Buzek, European Parliament[UPDATED November 1] The presidents of the European Parliament and European Council and the president and vice-president of the European Commission have issued an urgent call to EU business and government leaders and citizens to complete Galileo, the EU satellite navigation system, and other space-based initiatives even in the face of the current economic crisis.
They are patrons of a high-level European space policy conference to be held in the Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on November 9 and 10.
[UPDATED November 1] The presidents of the European Parliament and European Council and the president and vice-president of the European Commission have issued an urgent call to EU business and government leaders and citizens to complete Galileo, the EU satellite navigation system, and other space-based initiatives even in the face of the current economic crisis.
They are patrons of a high-level European space policy conference to be held in the Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on November 9 and 10.
This conference, now in its fourth year, comes at an exciting time. The
first two Galileo IOV satellites were launched just days ago, funding is
being requested for additional satellites and the EU is right now
negotiating agreements that will affect the funding and timeline for the
completion of Europe’s GNSS.
The conference website says : "Bringing the two big space projects
launched by the European Union – the satellite navigation system Galileo
and the earth monitoring system GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment
and Security) – to completion and capitalising on the vast potential
that exists for developing applications and services quickly . . .are of
vital importance.
"Many potential users and decision-makers continue to ignore or
underestimate the tangible, varied and extensive benefits that these
space resources can bring in a great number of areas.
"As a result of the profound economic and financial crisis engulfing the
EU’s member states, there is much uncertainty surrounding the question
of how to fund the investments that still need to be made in order to
ensure that [they] reach operational capacity. . . "
The event is free and open to the public, with pre-registration. (Online registration closed on October 31. If you did not meet the deadline, but would like to attend, contact conference organizers at spaceconference@b-bridge.eu.)
The patrons of the conference are Jerzy Buzek, president of the EU Parliament; José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission; Herman von Rompuy, president of the European Council and Antonio Tajani, vice president of the European Commission.
The proceedings will be interpreted in English, French, German and Italian.
The conference website is http://www.spaceconference.eu/2011/welcome_en.shtml.
